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Talk:AFOH/@comment-14850713-20150516041459
IC: A Dismal Regard warps on Earth orbit over the Hybridland Sea, its powerful radar, optic and IR sensors tracking targets below. Suddenly, a glowing projectile streaks from the atmosphere at hypersonic speed. It hits the aerospace ship's starboard bow and shatters to pieces. Anyone space walking outside the bridge would've heard the crew cheer. But its not because the projectile missed, but because it hit. The successful test is the latest for the slip-space detection system and the long-range weapon that goes with it. By sending very narrow and intermittent bursts of radio waves, the system is able to detect ships while in warp and give a reasonably accurate prediction of where they will emerge. The giant railgun (Project Paixhans) then provides a weapon with a shorter time-to-target than missiles or aerospace ships. While development of the slip-space system continues, it was decided to field the current version due to the threat of war with the Sith. It is able to detect ships about to warp beyond Earth orbit. Identification friend or foe (IFF) is being programmed into it using the radar signatures of known aerospace ships used by other countries/navies, which will allow the gun to identify a target before it emerges and fire at its predicted warp location, allowing very little reaction time before the projectile hits. The gun is the first fully weaponized model to come out of Project Paixhans, the Mk 8 240cm railgun, the "8" actually standing for Mach 8, the maximum sustained speed that it can hurl its specially designed ammunition. Because major AFOH combatants (flying capital ships, super-warships and heavy battleships) are 30-40% smaller than their counterparts from other navies, the fleet prioritized rate of fire rather than size (in comparison with guns which have the same range and mission like, for example, the Israeli Navy's 20 inch railgun), with the Mk 8 able to fire 1 round per minute. There are 2 types of projectiles. The HAP (Heavy Armor Penetrator) has a tungsten core with terminal active radar homing and either a thermobaric or small nuclear warhead (of about 50 kT). The extended range HAP-ER (nicknamed "Silver Bullet") can reach up to several kilometers beyond Earth orbit. Maneuvering and range extension is done by the guidance system via controlled bursts of shaped charges (1 for HAP, 3 for HAP-ER) at predetermined distances from the launch site as aerodynamic surfaces are useless due to the projectile's speed. The other round, the Area Denial-Tactical or "Ardent" has a lighter tungsten core but explodes a 10 MT nuclear payload in the midst of aerospace ship formations and has the same range of HAP-ER but with only 2 maneuvering stages. A mobile installation was chosen over a fixed emplacement for the the weapons system (both the slip-space radar and the gun) since land-basing was deemed vulnerable. Because of the enormous energy required by the gun, it was decided that it would be mounted on surface ships first as flying ships need power dedicated to flight and warp systems. As the High Command didn't want to pull out ships for modification due to the threat of war, a Freedom-class battleship was taken off mothballs and its hull enlarged, making it comparable in size to the fleet's heavy battleships. The reclassified battlecruiser Covenant has a single Mk 8 in a fully-armored turret. It was given an all-new superstructure, which mainly houses the new radar, 2 46cm vertical guns for shorter-range engagements, 2 Mk45 DP guns, and 2 triple 25mm guns. A squadron of 8-12 of these anti-aerospace battlecruisers with escorts (for broad-area AAW, ASW and ASuW support) is envisioned to cruise the Inland Sea and assist the 3ASF and 2AF against enemy incursions.